Lens Workshop

We are lucky enough, at Royal Oak Photography Group, to have as one of our members a Nikon rep. Not only is he a rep, he is also a great guy. And as such, he offered to bring all his lenses and several cameras out to play. Not only that, but he also gave a great talk about what the different lenses do, and why you might or might NOT want this or that particular lens.

It was a great day!

By the way, the above photo was taken with a fish eye lens (in case you weren't sure! Mwahaha)

In my first attempt to organize a Royal Oak Photography Group Meetup, I was hoping to make it something appealing and also something I can think about technically and learn from. After a few failed ideas like graffiti on highway bridges (too dangerous), portraits of the ghetto (possible loss of life), and stop-action photography of a national chess championship (just plain retarded), I had always wanted to get into what skills and techniques were needed to successfully shoot a sunrise. Ok, easy enough right? Well, yes and no.

In the planning stages, I had to decide a location. I remembered my phrase, “the sun rises in the east, and sets in the west”. It is the number two memorable phrase right after “righty-tighty, lefty loosey” . I know Metro Beach faces east, so I go ahead and post my Meetup in anticipation of the nice weather forecasted for that weekend. Cool! As the day moves on, the responses come trickling through my email as I check my phone at intervals throughout the day. Before I know it, I have 10 shutterbugs willing to get up early on a potentially hungover Saturday morning to shoot. Awesome.

I get an email from a member (props to radtke) of the group telling me that Metro Beach actually faces south. Uh-Oh! I planned this without getting all technical about where we were going to actually stand and take these shots. I envisioned a group of groggy people showing up all ready to go and I am without a clear, unobstructed view of the horizon. It would have been the blind leading the blind. The email I received mentioned a great spot called Huron Pointe in the park with a perfect view, but to get out there, it would require a 15-20 minute walk. This type of a hike would be great for me, but may not be too cool for the rest of the crew…hmmm

I went in to do a little work on how I could make my Meetup a success. I show up to Metro beach the day before determined to find an answer. I arrive to a ghostown version of the park with nothing in the distance of the vast parking lot but some scattered pigeons. Where to start? I drive down to an area with boats that is near a paved path that circles the park. I stumble upon some older folks enjoying each other’s company in lawn chairs near their boat. I interrupt their conversation (a desperate move) to ask if they had seen the sunset this morning. A woman in the group used her inner compass (better than mine) to point in the direction of the rising sun, but it was obstructed by trees, houses, and other boats. Dammit! A gentleman interjected and told me to go to the front office and talk to the park director as he pointed across the sea of concrete that was the parking lot. “Tell him Symphony Sam sent you” he shouted as I walked back to my car. I made it to the office and was granted access to the service road that takes you in to Huron Pointe, with a park police escort to boot!

I made an immediate post when I got home to the group and any stress caused by my poor planning melted away. The next morning I pick up Amy, grab some Starbucks, and we made the trek east. After arriving, I was pleased to see all the early risers dedicated to the art of photography all bundled up and ready to go. We get on our service road guided by Metro Beach‘s Finest and the choirs sang as a gorgeous, cloud-free orange/blue sky set the tone for a fantastic shoot. I took some shots and looked around taking a bite of my pumpkin scone with a sense of pleasure as everything turned out fine. Thank you Symphony Sam!

Thanks to those that came out! I hope to be planning some other cool stuff to add to the ROPG calendar of already cool events! Keep shooting and I’ll see you on the next one…
-D

We have a WINNER

Two actually!

Congratulations to Christina who won the first prize (overwhelmingly, I might add)at our first photo contest with her photo of this fire escape.

Joel won second prize with his only entry, of the barbed wire from the Train Station meet.

Thank you to everyone that contributed and attended. It was a small, but very talented group!

The Art of Posing for Models & Photographers

Andy Greenwell is RODPs newest sponsor. On the 23rd of August, he conducted his first workshop (as our sponsor). He sent me a link with some great inside-look photos.

For more information about Andy Greenwell, and the workshops that he offers, please check out his website www.andygreenwell.com

Urban Decay

I started the "Two Faces of Detroit" project this summer, with every intention of hitting up some decaying parts of Detroit. For whatever reason, that intention was never realized.

However, I very much wanted to do it still, even if it meant going w/out the group. So a couple weeks ago, I posted to FB hoping someone would come with me. No one responded until the next day, when my friend from high school, Brad, responded that he'd take me. The best part of that? Brad is a cop. Oh yeah.

So to Brightmoor we went. Let me tell you. I expected it to be a scary place, but it truly and honestly exceeded all of my expectations.

Thank you to Brad for offering to take me out there! I really had a good time!

The Crown Jewel of Detroit

Being raised not only in The Burbs™ but by decidedly anti-Detroit parents, I have had a poor view of what Belle Isle is for pretty much my whole life. Words like "unsafe", "dirty" and "ghetto" have all been associated to Belle Isle by family, and honestly, in my own head. I don't think I ever thought that Belle Isle would be a place for roving gangs or anything, but I definitely never felt it was a place I'd consider bringing my babies.

Actually, this bias that has been hammered into me is one of the reasons that I have spent so much time with RODP in Detroit this year.

Anyway. So I'm sure you can imagine my surprise when I drove through Belle Isle in February for our first stint at Anna Scripps. I kept saying "wow!" and "oh my.. Wow!!" and that was just on my drive around the island on my way out. It was then that I decided that once summer hit we would be BACK.. and back we came..

So, I got to the island early - which to be honest in my life is unheard of - and while driving to Anna Scripps (our meeting place) I saw a GREAT view of Detroit, so of course I had to stop!

After then spending too much time shooting the cityscape (whoops) I headed over to the meeting place, and of course, now that I was LATE an extended family of geese decided right then was a great time to cross the street..

Ha. Of course it didn't take too long, and it was actually fun to watch. I actually only grabbed my camera because another blogger I know "sleepydog" loves this stuff, so I had to share.

I made it to Anna Scripps, and waited a while for everyone to show, and finally we all went in. Well everyone else went in, I hit the garden in front. The first photo in this entry is from the garden. As is this one:

I have to be honest.. I'm LOVING the "from underneath" shooting I've been doing lately. Love.

Anna Scripps is broken up into different rooms. The two rooms I spent the most time in is tropical and desert:

There is also a lily pond - but I did it NO justice. However, one of the gentleman who came by was Mr. Rodney Arroyo, and he took this photo. I highly recommend you take a look .

From there we went over to the Scott Fountain.

The friends of Belle Isle tell the story of the Scott Fountain. "The James Scott Memorial Fountain is at the head of Belle Isle facing the Detroit cityscape. James Scott was an eccentric gambler and controversial socialite. He bequeathed a $500,000 grant to build a fountain on Belle Isle along with a life-sized statue of himself. The fountain is constructed of Vermont White Marble and has 109 water outlets in the shape of human heads, dolphins, turtles, lionesses and animal horns. Construction was completed in 1925, 15 years after his death in 1910. Water shows are presented from Memorial Day through October 1st. "

The view of The City from the fountain.

From here we went over to the Belle Isle Casino, but honestly, I didn't shoot there. I should have, it was gorgeous. Maybe Karen will share some of hers :)

Off to the pier! I was so excited to shoot on the pier!

And finally, we headed over to the lighthouse. Seriously. Did you even KNOW there was a lighthouse on Belle Isle? The walk was long - mostly because we parked in the wrong place (whoops) but it was well worth the walk.

Finally, on the walk back, I would never have guessed that there was ANY part of the D this pretty.

I was not only surprised, but had to concede that the Friends of Belle Isle's description of Belle Isle as "The Crown Jewel of Detroit" was not only accurate, but well and goodly deserved.

RODP Photo Contest

I've announced a photo contest for all RODP members.

For every meet you've been to, you can submit a photo (up to five meets), and everyone will vote, and the winner will win CASH.

How much cash? Well, at the minimum you could win $40. And the more people that come, the more the cash pot will be.

Head over to the RODP Meetup for rules and details!

Visiting Cranbrook Gardens

There have been several suggestions by many members to go to Cranbrook Gardens. Being a fan of flowers, and gardens tended by other people, I thought, "why not".

I found that I was again, overwhelmed a little bit by the scope of the place. I kept thinking "this was someone's house.. who lives like this??" which was quickly followed by "Why can't I live like this???"

Ok, ok.. I didn't really think that. But the place is huge, and is landscaped with geometrical gardens, and pool sized fountains.

I will say, I wasn't in much of a mood to photograph anything that day, and I'm not sure why. So, I only got a few photos. But then, one of our members ended up coming by, and brought with her a model. YAY.

Having the model there kind of reinvigorated me. At least to a degree. I've never worked with a model before (besides my sister, but that's another story), but she was exceptionally accommodating, and I'm grateful she came out to pose for us!!

WDIV BEST IN DETROIT

Our very own Andrea M has been nominated by WDIV for Best in Detroit. Here's a link to her blog, and here is a link to the voting site so you can go directly and vote for her! :)

Good Luck Andrea.. you totally deserve it!

Upcoming events

Jul 19
Cranbrook Garden Walk
http://www.meetup.com/RODPhoto/calendar/10757166/

August 2
Belle Isle
http://www.meetup.com/RODPhoto/calendar/10871527/

August 22
Selfridge Air Show
http://www.meetup.com/RODPhoto/calendar/9905606/

Join us!!

More images from the Heidelburg Project

Tim Burke on Heidelberg Street

Not to be outdone by Tyree Guyton's project, there is another artist who calls Heidelberg street home, named Tim Burke.

His art still uses discarded materials, but where Heidelburg sometimes seemed to blur between garbage and art (for me, and I'm not really an "art" person), Tim Burke's did not blur (again, in my humble opinion).

I hope you enjoy his work.

"I saw Jesus in the clouds"

While on our most recent meet, I heard a man say "So I was driving and I saw Jesus in the cloud" This isn't something I normally let people get away with saying without at least a little bit of sarcasm heading their way. But, seeing how I was not in my normal element, I let it go. The first time. When he said it two more times, I simply could not hold back anymore.

"You really saw Jesus in a cloud. Really??" I said it with a smile, you know, to hold back the bite. I didn't know the man I was talking to, after all.

He looked at me and said as if he was saying I like pepsi, "Yes, I did." I started to shake my head when he added, "Of course I was on [add grocery list of drugs] at the time. And he told me to turn around, so I did. And I ended up going the wrong way I-94"

I smiled, chuckled, and shook his hand and said, "I'll give that one to you!!"

And that's how I met Tyree Guyton, the artist behind the Heidelburg Project.

This was my first trip to Heidelberg. It was one of those places around Detroit that I've always "wanted to" go to, but never really thought about it after that first thought.

That's one of the amazing things about this group, about running this group. I've been to so many places that I had never been to, or in many cases, didn't even know about.

The Heidelberg Project was almost over-whelming to me. There was so much to look at, and often I felt that the line between "garbage" and "art" was a very fine line.

I was definitely intrigued by much of his work, and it was certainly like nothing I've seen before. But I can certainly see how the neighbors might not be happy about the Project too. I honestly wouldn't be happy if this was at the end of my own block.

However, that's not to say it didn't hold it's own charm; and his running theme of God and War and DPD was also very clear.

Whatever it means, or whatever it doesn't mean, I have to say that not only did I thoroughly enjoy myself at the Heidelberg Project, I would recommend that you find the time to go down there. As an artist friend of mine said, "Where else can you just walk up to and talk to an artist whose work is in the DIA".

Photos from Royal Oak Walk

Workshop #3 - The Mechanics of Photography - A First Step

In our second Mechanics of Photography workshop, I opted to try something a little different. I would teach the class, and I would ask the more advanced users to come and help with the hands on.. and yes, most of this would indeed be "hands on"

The goal, was to get the people out of "auto" and into Aperture/Shutter Priority shooting.

I was very lucky, in that I was offered lots of help by lots of people in the group (Thank You Thank You Thank You Thank You)

So we get to the class, and by now I've decided that I'm going to approach this the way it all FINALLY started to make sense to me, visually. With only the very first steps into how to get out of AUTO and into aperture/shutter priority shooting. No "why's" will be answered, no theory, just how to do it, with a visual show of what the different aperture settings do for your photos as well as what different shutter speeds do.

So, I know that the advanced users are NOT going to like my approach. I knew they will think "you aren't giving ENOUGH information." So, I prefaced my entire presentation with "I'm going to ask you advanced users to sit back, and not interrupt unless I say something blatantly wrong (and when I do, please DO interrupt!!)

It almost worked too. ;)

So, I started by going thru my powerpoint presentation:

Mechanics of Photography
The first section is Aperture Priority. When you set your camera to this, you control the Aperture, the ISO and the WB, but the camera does all the shutterspeed stuff.

This is an "A" on Nikon.. for others check your manual, but I think that Cannon is "AP"

Slide 2 - was shot at F2.8. The starbucks cozy thing is clear, and you can TELL that there is a starbucks cup behind that, but what's behind the cup? It's way too blurry to see.

So, at F2.8, there is a very shallow aperture.

Slide 3 - Shot at F4. It's a little clearer, and it's brighter (though honestly, the sun might have come out from behind a cloud), but not much difference in the depth of the aperture. (ie, it's still pretty blurry)

Slide 4 - Shot at F5.6, the cup is getting clearer, but is still blurry. Still no idea what is behind the cup.

Slide 5 - Shot at F8, the background is starting to take shape. While still blurry, it's pretty clear the cup is from Starbucks, and the object behind the cup is starting to take shape. At least we konw it's green. Our depth of field is opening up, becoming wider.

Slide 6 - Shot at F9 - not much difference from above.

Slide 7 - shot at F16. We are starting to see a real difference. The cozy is still clear, the cup is almost clear, and the object behind the cup is starting to look like a vase with stems in it.

Slide 8 - Shot at F22. The whole room is still a tiny bit blurry, but you can see what everything is, including the vase with the stems is starting to look exactly like what it is.

Slide 9 - Shot at F36. The whole room is clear, all of the objects (the cozy, the cup and the vase) are clear, and you can even see that there is a door with a screen on the way far wall.

From these slides, it's clear that the smaller the aperture number, the smaller the depth of field. The larger the aperture number, the wider the depth of field.

Moving on to Shutter Priority. When you set your camera to shutter priority, you control the shutter speed, the ISO and the WB, while the camera controls the aperture for you.

This is an "S" on my Nikon, and I believe a SP on cannon, though again, check your manual.

Slide 10 - This was shot at 1/2000. What you see on your camera when you shoot in shutter priorty for this number is "2000". The title of each of these pages shows what shutter speed (1/2000) and what it looks like on your camera (2000). This may seem completely obvious to you, but in my head 1/2000 and 2000 are vastly different numbers, so I put both on each slide.

Anyway, in this slide, the shutter speed is 1/2000. This means ths shutter is open for 1- 2000ths of a second. In this setting that wasn't nearly enough time for the camera to "see" what was going on, so everything is exceptionally dark.

Slide 11 - 1/1000 isn't much better

Slide 12 - 1/500 is better. I can see the outlines of things, but not much more.

Slide 13 - 1/250 (or 250 on your screen on your camera), I can start to see the same startbucks coze, the vase is there behind it, but not really clear, and the cup is close to me and very blurry and dark still.

Slide 14 - 1/125th of a second things are lighter still, and I can see everything, but still, not idea.

Slide 15 - 1/60th of a second, brighter, clearer, but not perfect.

Slide 16 - 1/25th the cozy is clear, the vase is clear, and the slide is still quite a bit lighter.

Slide 17 - 1/10th of a second .. getting there

Slide 18 - 1/2 a second is almost perfect.

Slide 19 - 1 (This means 1 second, and shows on your camera as 1" - I would see this and think "1 inch?? WTH!??"), this is about perfect as far as lighting is concerned.

Slide 20 - 15 seconds (or 15") - totally washed out, and remember, this means the shutter is open for 15 full seconds. You'd best not move your camera while shooting this, otherwise all will be blurry and completely unusable. For this, my camera was sitting on the table, but a tripod works just as well.

White Balance!

What is this White Balance thing? Is it magical?

All White balance is, is this. It tells the camera what KIND of light is coming in, so that it can process the colors correctly. You know how you'll take a picture in your office (or somewhere else with god awful florescent lighting, and they kind of look green? That's because your white balance isn't set properly.

The settings for these are usually icons.



Slide 21 - Incandescent (or the image of a light bulb) - this one is for shooting inside with tungsten lighting. That's fancy talk for shooting inside where lamps are used, or any sort of lighting really that uses light bulbs.

Slide 22 - Fluorescent - This is for when you are shooting in a setting that there are fluorescent lights. There are more detailed settings within this one too, but for now, if you turn your WB to this setting in this light, you'll be happy.

Slide 23 - Direct Sunlight (or the image of a Sun) - Obviously use this when you are outside in the sun

Slide 24 - Flash (or the image of lighting) - This one is used when you are using your flash.

Slide 25 - Cloudy (or the image of a cloud) - Use this if you are outside, but it's not in direct sunlight because it's cloudy

Slide 26 - Shade - this is usually a simple house with kind of a dark triangle off the side - this is for taking photos when you are outside in the shade.

Slides 27,28,29 - Kelvin - I'm not entirely positive what Kelvin is, but I know this. There are about 3 times as many "stops" on this scale, and I can often get a more accurate picture with using this setting. Of course I take 15 pictures before I "find' the right one, but it is more accurate.

ISO

I'm not going to explain each slide. They are each a fair representation of what general environment to use each ISO. As with everything in every situation, this is the most basic level of explanation, and once you are ready for more detail, it's out there. Trust me.

One note about slide 31 - this was inside a building, which is why it's 400 (light but not direct sunlight)

And finally, here are the contact sheets of each of the settings. This will give you an idea visually of what each does. Also, the photo number on the contact sheet coincides with the "photo number" in the presentation.

Aperture Priority: controls depth of field (controls how big of an opening the lens has)



Shutter Priority: controls how long the shutter remains open - and controls the amount of light the camera lets in.



White Balance - Controls how the camera processes the light (what kind of light IS it?)



ISO: Tells the camera how much light it is dealing with. (this is a terrible explanation, I admit it.. but if you look at the different photos in the presentation, you'll start to know when to use what ISO)

Well. I hope this helps.

After this workshop, we took a walk around downtown Royal Oak to try out our new skillz. I'll try to get some of those photos up soon.

Some new meets

July 11th - Rochester Photo Walk
July 12th - 2 Faces of Detroit Meet - Heidelberg Project
July 19th - Cranbrook Gardens Walk


For details and more info, see the RODP Meetup page.

Hope to see you there!!

Another Two Faces meet

We met as usual at the Coffee Beanery, only for some reason, the Coffee Beanery closed at 6, and we met at 6:30. How odd is that??

Anyway, as usual, we paired up and drove down to the D. We loitered around Comerica Park, and took some pretty cool photos (in my humble opinion) of and around the park.

We walked across the street and shot some Fox Theater and other stuff in that general area, then part of our group left (some to catch The Game, others for various reasons).

At this point, we all piled into Andrea's most amazing car, that fit about 7 of us. It made for a fun, laugh-a-licious ride.

We crossed the border into Canada, no problems (seriously, they'll let anyone in), then took some really cool shots (see the banner, I took that from Canada on this trip), then decided it was time for food.

After deciding it was time for food, we headed back to Detroit. Now, it must be stated, that I said something about crossing the border in my original meetup post. Something like "if you get stopped at the border because you don't have the right information, we will leave you there.. so have your stuff". Guess who didn't have the right stuff? yeah, me. I sucketh.

The guy at the border was really cool though, and in a serious, but poke fun-ny way made sure I knew what to have for the next crossing :D

Quote of the day (from right after the border guy let us go)

Andrea: "The NERVE of that guy!! To mess with us that way! Just because he has some power!!!!" Me: "Um, if I had that kind of power, I'd totally mess with people *lol*" Andrea: "LOL SO WOULD I!!!"

So we go to Nicki's in Detroit for pizza. We get there, we get a table, and we are all ordering drinks, and our server asks what i want. I say "do you have Sam's Cherry Wheat?" she says "Oh honey, I don't know, I'm a vodka drinker lol"

SRSLY? LOL

Oh. I forgot to tell you. When we were in Canada, we heard what sounded like automatic gun fire. It kind of freaked me out. Then there was what sounded like heavy artillary going off. Again, it freaked me out, but A. We were in CANADA (as opposed to Detroit lol) and B. no one else seemed to be worried about it. So , I let it go.

Then Jeff and Andrea walked over to get some different photos of the City, and when they came back, they were all "we know what that waaaaaaaas, and we bet you want to knooooooooowwww". I tried to play it cool, like I didn't care (even though, I was, you know, ITCHING to know), and when we got to Nicki's, the taunting became overwhelming (*drama*) and I started asking.. but they wouldn't tell. (*drama / sob*)

Turns out it was a cannon!! WTF!! (I found out after the whole thing was over.. but the whole thing was fun and funny).

All in all, this evening was one of the most fun we'd had. The kind where your face hurts when you get home because you smiled too much!

Good times.. you should join us!!

Updated blog

Tell me what you think of the new set up. It's simple, and will allow me to put a little larger photos than the other set up.

And for your viewing pleasure, my girl. I didn't specifically take this with a group, but if it wasn't for the group, I wouldn't have been able to make this (these?) images this awesome.

So, tell me what you think of this layout, or would you rather see a more traditional "blog layout"?

Northville Photo Walk

Northville was the second city walk that we did. Northville is my home town, so it was a nice shoot. Interestingly, what I was excited about shooting, and what I actually shot (and liked) were two different things.

We had a good turn out, and got to know some new photographers, so that was nice too.

Here are some photos from that day:

a small note: This is the photo where Jeff taught me to shoot with long shutter speeds. Go Jeff!!

Strobist Workshop

On Saturday the 16th of May, we had our first Strobist Workshop. So. Much. Fun. I will be honest here, and say that I was trying REALLY hard not to get too interested in this. Not because it wasn't interesting, but because I've already spent too much on photo stuff this year. However, as hard as I tried, I utterly failed.

I've spent the last 2 weeks looking at what there is to know. Here is what I've found so far to get started:

According to Strobist, the LumoPro LP120 Manual Flash is the best flash to start with. It sells at the Midwest Photo Exchange for $129. Why is it so much less than the Nikon/Cannon/Sony flashes? Because it is not TTL, so you are not paying for all the stuff that you won't be needing to shoot in the strobist style.

Here is the description of this product via Midwest Photo Exchange:

Developed in conjunction with the Strobist community, this flash is ideal for professional and amateur photographers alike. The LumoPro LP120 is the most versatile all manual flash in production today. In its one size fits all design, it offers 4 ways of synchronization with your camera through its PC port, miniphone port,optical slave sensor and hotshoe (PC/Miniphone cord included.) This diversity also provides you with backup options should, for example, your existing radio slaves lose power or you forget your sync cord at home. Using your flash off your camera has never been easier. With its 270-degree swivel and 180-degree tilt, you will be able to bounce the light off any wall, ceiling, and most light modifiers (using your forehead is not recommended.) The manual zoom function allows you to focus the beam regardless of your lens focal length. The wide-angle adapter helps disperse the beam to a greater degree. The standard flash head design insures that almost any light modifier on the market will fit securely. The LP120 is color neutral and offers 6 power variations. This flash has replaced the Vivitar 285HV in all of our strobist kits.

Item Includes:

• LP120 Manual Flash
• PC to Miniphone Sync cord
• Wide angle adapter
• Instruction manual

For Strobist's second and third choices for flashes, go here. They already said it, and better than I could.

The Midwest Photo Exchange has several strobist kits available, starting with:Strobist Starving Student SX1 lighting kit
This is the basic kit, This kit is available both including the flash ($219) or everything but the flash ($99)

(Wanna double up? Get two of everything for $389, $154.99 w/out the flashes)

All the way up to:

Strobist Pro PT3 2 light kit

This the biggest, professional kit. It includes pretty much everything you could possibly need to be the professional strobist. However, it runs about $999.

For all the kits, with both the 1 and 2 light sets, go here to do some independent fact finding.

I'll tell you what though, I've only shot in this style twice, and I'm well and goodly hooked.

Happy Shooting !

The People Mover

Ahhhh the People Mover day. This day started with a phone call 10 minutes before I was supposed to meet everyone to go downtown. I say "started" because I was sound asleep at 9:50 am, and was supposed to meet everyone at 10 am. Ugh. So, this is my very special Thank You to Kelly for that kind wake up call :)

Fast forward 40 minutes later, and we were pulling into the Downtown Detroit Parking Garage. The day was beautiful. Sunny with a breeze coming off the river, warm.. oh yes a good day.

This was yet another meet dedicated to our 2 Faces of Detroit Project.

We made our way into the Ren Cen and bought our tokens. Our goal was to get off at EVERY stop. So we as a group get onto the People Mover, and the very next stop .. was across the street.

Haha.. oh yes. Across the street. That was OK because we all got some great shots.. but seriously, we could have walked there LOL.

From there it was over to the Financial District. We kind of broke off into many groups at this point. I think we spent the most time at this stop as well.

From there we hit JLA and then Cobo Hall, walked around the roof parking at Cobo, and we all kind of slowed down, so we decided to grab some lunch.

We went to Greek Town and ate at a Tex Mex place. This time without the margaritas (well, I had one, but they made me drink alone, as sad as that is). After that we headed over to Grand Circus Park, and shot some more until the rain started coming down. At that point we high-tailed it back to the Ren Cen, shot a little in there, and then headed down the back way along the river to our cars.

There, along the river front, we found the most interesting fire hydrant

Then we talked about Petcha Kutcha night, then went home.

For more (and in many cases better) photos, including of course the very cool hydrant, have a look at our RODP Flickr

The Train Station / Tiger Stadium

We decided about a month and a half ago to go to the the defunct Detroit Train Station. After the meet was set and we were ready to go.. the Detroit City Council started making a big deal about the building. Talking about what a blight it was on the City's landscape.

While I agree and disagree with this, I think the City has MUCH bigger problems than this one building. But that is another blog.

At any rate, the security is beefed up as a result, and it is harder to get into the building undetected. Especially with 13 people with cameras. Crazy, I know.

This was the first meet that we car pooled to. Before this, we all just met somewhere, took pictures, and left. This time, we met in Royal Oak, car pooled to Detroit, with the intention of getting into the Train Station, taking some amazing photos and leaving.

However, Fate had other plans for us.

For reasons I won't go into, we took photos of the outside of the building first.

And like colorful bait on the end of a fishing line, we attracted the police. Not the best decision I've ever made, but hey, I learned from it :D

The police didn't approach us while outside, and we did get some pretty cool shots.

Then we made our way, en masse, to the entrance to the building.

Yeah. It's in there.

We climbed in, some of us with more help than others (sorry guys.. )

and I shot a little more

Yeah. It was pitch black. Luckily I had a cool flashlight that sat on my head. Yeah, I know, you're jealous.

Unfortunately, as the last of us climbed into the building, the PoPo arrived. About half of us were all for going in anyway (they weren't following us in.. just sitting there) and half wanted to just leave. The first half of us left... and the second half of us waited a few minutes, deciding what we wanted to do. We decided that staying a group was better than NOT staying a group, and climbed out and joined our friends with the Police.

Yeah. Not our best moment. But oh the stories we'll have for our grandkids, right?

Anyway, only SOME of us got tickets, because apparently she didn't actually SEE some of us come out.

To make the best of a sour situation, we decided to head over to Tiger Stadium..

not to break in this time, but to shoot thru the fences. (Lesson learned, right?)

The day was just about perfect weather-wise. And we turned our Lemony day into Margaritas at Mexican Village to finish it off.

For more photos from the meet and other meets, check out our RODP Flickr group

Meetup #7 - Royal Oak Photo Walk

This meetup started out because I wanted to share photos and ideas etc with the meetup members. So, I posted a meetup to meet and eat lunch in Royal Oak.

*enter crickets chirping*

After about a week and maybe one or two "maybe" RSVPs, I changed this too the RO Photo Walk.

It turned into the biggest meet yet.

The irony here is, for each of the previous meets, I spent lots of time getting it ready. Looking up the locations to post, researching the meet locations, writing the post, sending it out.. I mean at least an hour went into each previous post, and with at least one, the prep was several hours. And what meet gets the most takers? The one that took literally 2 minutes to post. haha.

We all met at the Starbucks on Main Street - had some coffee, then headed over to the Farmer's Market. I wasn't able to get a photo with the FEEL of the place.. so I will share some of the other shots I took there:













Then we headed back to Main Street:










And finally we hit the Train Tracks - as no trip to Royal Oak of the photo nature would be complete w/out photos of the tracks:










After our lovely walk, we headed over to Mr. B's for some lunch which was just lovely.

It was a great day, fun, great weather, lots of people. Ahh. Life is good. :)

WORKSHOP: The Mechanics of Photography and/or Photo Editing with Photoshop

I can't tell you all how excited I was about this project. From the first email I sent out, to the workshop itself, I was simply over whelmed by how much everyone was willing to step up and help with whatever was needed.

So, instead of going into all the details, I'd like to take this moment to thank Mike and Marc for taking the time to not only put together great presentations, but for coming out to teach this workshop!

Mike Teaching about Aperture, Shutter Speed and ISO



Here is Marc teaching Photoshop Basics

This class built a foundation upon which we will build many more Workshops in everything from The Mechanics of Photography, to Photoshop / Photo Editing, to How to take better pictures to Portraits, and Do It Yourself projects... I think you get the idea :)

Note: The colors are off in the photos because I was changing the White Balance a lot to test the different settings during the workshop as the techniques were being explained.

Detroit Zoo and Butterfly House Take 2

Given how much it snowed the first time around, I thought it'd be a good idea to revisit the zoo.

I had a list of attendees, got there early, and directed traffic (ok, moving to the next blah blah). this is also the first meet where we got together after for food.

Lots of great photos, lots of great conversation.

We learned many things at this event. We learned about the KEY to photography, we learned about a self help website one of our members runs, and we learned a LOT about aperture and shutter speed from Jeff (at lunch).

Henry Ford Museum

I had all my ducks in a row for this one. We had about 13 people at this one (11 not counting my two munchkins). We walked in as a group.. saw a couple of Presidential cars.. and I looked up and everyone had gone their own way.

So, as a group.. it wasn't so much a meetup.

However, I did get to talk to a few people as we ran into each other :) And I got some really good photos that day.

What did I learn from this? People WANT direction. :)

Anna Scripts Conservatory

This was the most organized meet to date :) It was also a breath of fresh air in the middle of winter. Walking into this place was like walking into a lush tropical garden. Heck, who am I kidding, it was a lush tropical garden.

We had a great turn out, and I was ready for them too. I actually (somewhat surprisingly at this point lol) got there not on time, but early. I had a sheet with pictures and names of everyone coming, so I was able to greet everyone by name. We had a great crowd, and we were beginning to have some regulars too!

Robert
Joy
Amy
Michael
Marvin
Andrea
Janice
Raymond
Kelly
Marilynn
and me :)

Meetup #2 Plymouth Ice Festival

The last time I went to the Plymouth Ice Festival, I was in high school. That means it was about 20 years ago. It also means that the festival was pretty much brand new. Which also means there weren't many (if any) real rules. You could wander around and see the sculptures from every angle. There were a lot of people, but it wasn't like a traffic jam.

So, this event was coming up, and I was wracking my brain for things to do.. so I posted it and got many interested people. For this meet, I also didn't bring a sign in sheet, but I DID bring a MEETUP sign. So I get there, and after getting lost in Plymouth, getting stuck in traffic, and finally finding a place to park, while I should have been EARLY to the meetup spot, i was actually late - and almost everyone was already there. (waiting for me!) (Whoops).

We walked around, and we took photos of the ice sculptures, and of the artists carving the ice.. this one was CRAZY busy. And, as I mentioned above we were allowed to walk wherever in the park before, now it was roped off, and the people could ONLY walk around the park, not through it. Also, it was almost too busy for us to really get any good photos. But, here is what I came up with:

Again, since there was no sign up, I sadly cannot remember all who came, but I do recall that at this meet we met Kelly, Quy and Joy and Nilesh. There were about 10 people though, but most didn't stay with the group.

Woo, two down and we seemed to be a successful group!

Meetup #1 - Detroit Zoo

Note to self: Save! Save! Save!

I had just finished this entry, uploaded the photos, and BLAM Firefox crashed. Grr.

Ok, moving on..


My first meet was something. I had joined the Detroit Photography Group. But, they didn't DO anything - and hadn't in months. So, I thought, what the heck, I'll start my own!

So I started the group in late 2008, the end of December, and I made my first meet the Detroit Zoo, Butterfly House. We had lots of people jump from the old inactive photo group, to the new group, and we had about 15 people RSVP originally. I was excited, but didn't really expect everyone that RSVPd to actually come. I told myself that if 5 showed, I'd be happy.

Then the day before, the weather reports were saying bad storm approaching. The RSVP's moved down to 11, but I really didn't expect many, if any the next day, if the reports were correct.

The day came, and it came with snow. And lots of it. The drive from my house to the zoo is usually about a 5 minute drive, it took me 15 minutes. Ugh.

So I get there, on time, not early (mistake one), and there were already several people there! I was AMAZED lol. I can't remember who exactly was there, because I didn't bring a sign in sheet (mistake two). I did talk to each person, and thanked them for coming, but I didn't take a group photo (mistake 3), or be "in charge" in any way. People just left as they were ready to. I don't think this was a mistake, but I have since changed this ;).

All in all, it was a decent group. We had (if memory serves) the following members:
Robert
Raymond
Janice
Marc
Me (haha obviously)
one other lady (who has since left the group)

and I think one other person was there, but I can't remember who :(

It was a good day. I left happy, and had a couple of good shots to show for it.

Welcome

Welcome to the RODP Blog!

The purpose of this blog is to keep you updated about our meets, upcoming events and I may even throw in some extras for you (exciting!).

I started the Royal Oak Digital Photography Group in late December, 2008, and had our first meetup 3 weeks later at the Detroit Zoo Butterfly House.

I hope you enjoy this blog :)